Bird Flu Reaches USA!

Sadly, the dreaded Avian Bird Flu has reached the North American continent. Below is an image of the devestation this dreaded virus has wreaked on the native flamingo population in Florida. Be prepared, people.

Belated Easter Photos

Hey, I know these Easter photos are a month late. So sue me! They were too cute to pass up. Don't judge me. You don't know me. I pay my own bills ...

del.icio.us - Featured Website

I am a bookmark addict. If I come across a website worth returning to, I hate to lose track of it. The problem with using your browser (IE, Firefox, etc.) to bookmark a site is that you can only access them from the computer on which you store them.

That is why I use Delicious. This company (recently purchased by Yahoo!) allows you to post and store all of your bookmarks on their servers. Also, you can tag/label every bookmark, cluster them, share them, and access them through a variety of different web portals - from any computer with internet access. I highly recommend it. Here are my bookmarks. Enjoy this free service.

See? See how I share? Aren't I a good boy?

Death Star Day Care

I've got a quick question for Chelsa. Having worked for years in a day care, can you tell me if this is a typical scene? Read the full write-up here.

Thanks for the photo, Alan.

Shame & Pride

I'll admit that I actually watched a number of American Idol episodes this year. I usually hate shows like this, but since they did away with the drama of having the contestants live together, it is now an actual talent contest without the taint of 'reality TV.'

That said, I am still ashamed that I watched as much as I did. Annie and I began watching it because she personally knew Mandisa. But that doesn't excuse our continued interest in the schmarmy show well after her elimination.

I can say with pride, however, that we did NOT watch the season finale. Admittedly, it was because we watched Lost instead, but still. The principle remains. I can live on knowing that I demonstrated that ultimate defiance - I didn't watch the finale.

With photos like these, I am doubly proud of our decision ...

Yang it!

My second round of acupuncture went very well. This time I decided to try to relax - and it helped that I knew what to expect.

I sat down as the woman who was about to jam needles into my back went over her notes. I remembered that last time she had asked me to stick out my tongue about five different times. Each time she would scrutinize my tongue and then make notes in Chinese on a piece of paper. I decided to ask her what was so interesting about my tongue.

Her answer: it has nothing to do with Western medicine - it is Chinese traditional medicine. She was looking at my tongue to determine my overall health (I let her know that I had just eaten some chocolate, so my tongue color might be tainted). I asked her what my results were. According to her (and my tongue), I have a yang imbalance - an excess of yang (I guess my yin is just fine). This means that something is out of sorts with my bones, muscle, heart, or liver, and that I have anxiety and stress from it. She said that this was most likely caused by herniated disc.

I asked her what I should do to correct this imbalance. Yes, I knew I was opening myself up to a sales pitch. To her credit, though, she said that if I wanted, down the road she could do a whole work up and perscribe me some herbs. However, she didn't want to do that until she was done fixing my neck.

I've got to find out more about the whole yin/yang thing. Any tips on where I should look?

Kate, On Religion ...

During church on Sunday, Kate actually listened attentively to the speaker for the first several minutes. I don't know why she was, but it was a first. As she listened to the speaker, she would repeat to me the last few words of each of his sentences. It was so cute that I began watching and listening to her instead. Here's how it went:

(Speaker talking about Abraham, Lot, Lehi, and Nephi and how each of them were led by God out of their respective cities, and why ...)
Kate: " ... individuals ..."
(Speaker talking ...)
Kate: " ... sensuous ..."
Me: (huh?)
(Speaker talking ...)
Kate: "... lusts of the flesh ..."

Yikes! I thought. I turned my attention back to the speaker. What in the world was he talking about to have my little almost-three-year-old say those words? I realized that he was describing the state of Sodom and Gomorrah during the days of Lot.

Sheesh. Kate's version made the topic sound very non-family-friendly. Maybe they should come with a rating?

Then last night, during Family Home Evening, Kate demonstrated her deep religious understanding. Annie was giving a lesson on family prayer and how we need to be nice to each other. Then Kate spoke up and offered her thoughts, in the form of a classic Socrates dialogue:

Kate: "Is it nice to push?"
Annie: "No, it isn't."
Kate: "Is it nice to hug?"
Annie: "Yes."
Kate: "And to kiss?"
Annie: "Yes."
Kate: "Is it nice to share your Cheerios with Heavenly Father?"
Annie: (suppressing a laugh) "Yes, Kate, it is very nice to share your Cheerios with Heavenly Father."

I'm glad that Kate's religious education is going so well.

A New Experience ...

I am doing everything to avoid surgery on my herniated disc. A couple of days ago I had an MRI done, and the technician said that in her 20 years, she had never seen one so big. Yay! That was so encouraging! She asked me what caused it, but I don't think she bought my bear-wrestling story.

So, this morning I went in for my first ever acupuncture session. I was really nervous and didn't know what to expect. The acupuncturist is a Chinese lady (comforting, for some reason - made it seem authentic), who is an MD and has been doing this work for 25 years.

After interviewing me, she had me lie face down and shirtless on the table. Once I was good and comfortable (ya, right), she cupped one hand under my chin and the other around the back of my head and gave a good pull. She said, "You need to relax." Ya right, lady! You're tugging on my head! That didn't work out so good for me last time!

But then came the main event. She rubbed my neck and shoulders down with alcohol and then proceded with placing needles along my spine, starting at the base of my skull and down just past the base of my neck. Then she inserted a couple along both shoulder blades. I was really tense because I was freaked out about needles being poked so close to my spine, but I could tell she was a professional.

Next, she attached electrodes to four of the needles, and turned on an electronic pulse machine. Before I new it, the muscles along the outside of my scapula, and along the base of my neck were twitching in time. Then, to top it all off, she rolled a heating lamp over me so I would stay warm. I then laid there for 45 minutes! It was crazy. I wish I could have seen myself. I wasn't sure if she was trying to cook me, convert me into a cyborg, or pull some Dr. Frankenstein trick. In the end, I almost fell asleep a couple of times - until her next patients arrived. I was distracted from sleeping because I could hear them talking in Chinese - and I was in plain sight of them. I imagine they were commenting on the foolish, pasty white boy who agreed to have a stranger stick needles in him.

I don't feel any better yet, but this is supposed to take multiple sessions. The goal is to get my muscle spasms loose enough to permit the bulging disc to retract back into place. We'll see. Wish me luck.